Blue Yepp - The Facts (Samsung YP-E64 64 MB)

Member Name: geoffcampos

Product:	Samsung YP-E64 64 MB
Date:	12/11/01 (1266 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: small, Light, Standard Cable

Disadvantages: Poor Software, nonstandard media, Projecting Button

I have been using the Mp3 compression technology since it first became available. I bought the first portable Mp3 player (MPman, which I have also reviewed) to listen on the move. Recently, I was swayed by a cheap USB alternative: Samsung Yepp YP-NEU.
The machine is small, light and reasonably attractive. The blue, translucent plastic seems to sandwich a sliver of metal in the middle giving a pleasing effect. There are four buttons on the front: A large, round play/pause button which protrudes quite a bit, and small, metal-looking recessed stop, forward, backward buttons. The volume control is a rocker on the top next to a dash-dot remote control/jack socket. It takes two AAA batteries in a hump on the back. The remote control is a Sony-style cylindrical affair, all silver and a brightly back-lit LCD display.
My first impressions with the looks were good. Functionally, which is always a priority, my feelings are mixed. The play/pause button projects far enough to annoy as I always manage to pause the machine when it is in my inside pocket (probably something to do with having my eyeballs squeezed out on their sockets during rush hour on the London Undergrind). There is however a hold button on the back (as well as one on the remote), but it's a chore to keep switching it on and off).
The braille factor is pretty good with the player and the remote, so no worries there. The remote is good, but redundant. Unless you keep the player in a handbag, you're just not going to need it. The headphones supplied are average - which is always what I expect from any player, so I ditched them in favour of my favourite, expensive sealed sony 'phones (which is another reason I don't use the remote, the Sony's are full length, so there's too much cable. By not using the remote of course, there is no LCD desplay, so I cannot see what track I'm on, but, so what, as long as I can hear the music I don't care what number it's assigne
d.
There is a slot in the front of the machine labelled 'Smart Media'. I thought cool, I can use my 32MB card in my old player, boosting it to a more than adequate 96Megs. Nope. Apparently, I need to buy 'Yepp formatted memory'. This is a frustrating and unfair proprietization for profit. It reminds me of PCMCIA adaptor cables - no standards, fleecy replacement prices. I visited the Yepp website and there was mention of this and that 'soon the software will be available to Yepp format any smart media' [not verbatim] - yeah right. Where do they sell Yepp media? Who knows, I've never seen any. Which brings me to the counterpoint of the data transfer cable. It's USB to mini USB. Way Hey! It's a standard (of sorts) - I've seen such cables from third party suppliers. At least I can't be fleeced there.
The desktop software is again what I would expect for an Mp3 player - poor. There is an annoying splash screen which persists for a few seconds on load, and the main display window is small and fixed in size - so you have to scroll through your list of songs. I hate this. It is poor programming. The data transfer rate, whilst faster than my old Parallel player, is still not impressive. According the the software, it never exceeds 2Mbps. USB is capable, so I'm aware, of 12Mbps. Yes, I've got the cable plugged into a hub, but during transfer, I'm only using a USB mouse at the same time. I haven't tried plugging it directly into the computer yet, but my hopes aren't high.
Of course, there is no Mp3 ripping software which is a great shame. I realize this is a grey area legally, but gee whiz everybody does it, and it is kind of the whole point with regards to Mp3 players. As Windows 2000 does not have the facility built in, I have to use dodgey shareware or Spin Doctor (again, poorly written software which I might review just for laughs) to convert my CD's.
The batteries shipped are of c
ourse crap (as I would expect with any consumer electronics). With Energizer or Duracell (are they the same company?), the runtime is pretty good if expensive. I might use rechargeables again.
So in conclusion, it's a reasonably competent player for Mp3 files only. It suffers from most of the ailments that players have always suffered from - which sucks. I put this down to razor-thin margins and a (still) relatively small market.
What I'd like to see is a player that is cheap, fast USB connection, rechargeable battery, small, no frills, good software, intuitive, standards based... am I dreaming? Am I thinking of the Apple iPod? Will I go back to tape? Will Sony ever allow Mp3 decoding Minidisc players? Will Flash memory ever be affordable? I'll get back to you on these points!

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